


Off Balance

by HerbertBest



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Bed Rest, Difficult Pregnancies, Established Relationship, Family, Fluff, Internal Conflict, Multi, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Parenthood, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-31 00:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8555389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerbertBest/pseuds/HerbertBest
Summary: Holly's pregnancy does not go smoothly, which forces the family to circle their wagons while she deals with ambivalence.  Can they show her how much they love her?





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of my shared a/b/o grumpverse with [theseusinthemaze](http://archiveofourown.org/users/TheseusInTheMaze/pseuds/TheseusInTheMaze). The majority of the continuity is [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7724251/chapters/17604880), with my contributions being [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/17710312), [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/17921479), [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/17921632), [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/18031048), [this,](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7894192), [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/17921305%22%22), [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/18211246) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/18211504) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8019979) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/18361207) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/18483334) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/18483385) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/18483550) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8141047) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/18659836) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/18659920) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/18659929) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/18660007) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/18999074) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/19203985) [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6371221/chapters/19316128) and [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8504935).
> 
> From a Tumblr Prompt: _A prompt for the A/B/O verse if it fits: Holly clearly comes out of her pregnancy unscathed, but the pack doesn’t know that while she is still pregnant. Alpha females have a bad reputation for having a rough, even dangerous, pregnancy after all. ~Something~ (authors choice) happens during the pregnancy that has everyone reflecting on how much Holly means to them._

“I only passed out a little?”

Ross snorted at Holly’s statement, tucking her into bed. “Which is a huge sign that you’re too pregnant to be wearing six tons of foam on the floor of a con.”

Holly frowned at him. “You don’t have to treat me like a baby.”

“Yes I do. I’m going to make you some honey soy milk,” he said, pecking her forehead before leaving the room.

Holly groaned, rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. This was one of the reasons why she’d always avoided pregnancy – because it turned a caretaker by nature like her into a helpless, faint creature. She groaned and kicked her bare feet under the covers.

She was going to get Dan for this. Somehow. In some vague way she didn’t have the heart to quite conjure at this point.

That was when the door flew open, admitting a scared-looking Jemma, who threw her arms around Holly’s belly. “Howie?”

Arin was right behind her. “I tried to tell her you’re okay,” he explained, looking exhausted. He was barefooted, his hair falling out of a hastily-made ponytail, wearing an old teeshirt and cargo shorts.

“It’s all right,” Holly said, cradling Jemma in her arms. She brushed the girl’s thin, dark hair back and let her sniffle against her chest. “I just…“

“Are you sure?” Jemma asked.

“Cross my heart,” Holly said. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the con?” she asked Arin.

“We cancelled the panel after someone told us you fainted and Jemma got scared enough to worry, so I took her home. Dan and Suzy are signing autographs with Brian for the next hour and the girls are doing afterschool stuff at Cammy’s.”

That made Holly’s stomach unknot. The whole Brian thing was a little bit up in the air still, still raw, still new, but Dan could handle it.

“Did the docs check you out?” Arin asked, sliding into bed with her.

“Yeah. And Ross made me check in with my ob/gyn,” she added. “The baby’s heartbeat is still strong and I’m generally ok, but my blood pressure’s up a little. He wants to keep me here for a couple of days on meds and bedrest to make sure it evens out.”

The fear in Arin’s eyes was heartening but frankly not something Holly needed to see at the moment.

“I really don’t want to end up on long-term bedrest,” she admitted with a groan.

Arin gave her an awkward, crooked smile. “Okay, so we won’t think about that – you stay calm, and we’ll just…watch a movie.” He reached for the remote. “Would you like that?” he asked Jemma.

“Mmm,” Jemma said to his kneecaps.

By the time Ross came back with her warm milk they were lying in a lump of warm, comfy limbs.

***

“What are we going to do without Howie there?”

Suzy sighed against Holly’s shoulder. “Cammy, it’s only your second meet. The rest of us will be with you, and we’ll all take pictures and videos.”

Cammy, ever logical, sighed. “Did the doctor say when you’d be free?”

Holly shook her head. “Another couple of days. He wants to make sure my blood sugar stays leveled out. At least my blood pressure…”

“Has he checked you for placenta previa?”

“Cammy!” Suzy complained. “Last time I looked you didn’t graduate from medical school!”

“And I don’t want to talk about my placenta,” added Holly. “But I’d be happy to listen to you run numbers if you need some practice.”

“Oh, of course!” said Cammy. She immediately handed Suzy a pile of notecards and Suzy started reading the figures printed on them off.

Holly smiled at her (well, Arin and Dan’s, but who was counting at this point?) progeny’s work. The girl had undeniable talent, even though it wasn’t a talent she related to. Afterward, Cammy thanked her, said she didn’t know what she’d do without Holly.

“I know how she feels,” said Suzy, squeezing Holly’s hand.

***

Rhea rested her palm against Holly’s stomach. “What does that feel like?” She sounded horrified, which balmed Holly’s anxiety a tad.

“Like gas,” she admitted. “That sounds weird doesn’t it?” She stared at her own stomach. The fact that she was being punch-kicked by someone inside of her was an odd fact of life that still felt bizarre to contemplate.

Rhea instantly turned green at the proclamation, but Holly knew too much about Rhea’s roaming ways to avoid being easily soothed by her behavior at this point. “Does it just…wriggle around in your intestines?”

“…gross. But no – alpha biology isn’t that different. Didn’t they teach this in school?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t pay attention. I am so never going to do the rugrat thing, so what’s there to know? Wrap it, tap it. At least I remember most of the important parts. Zip fainted, remember?”

“And threw up on the person in front of her.” Oh yes, Holly really did remember.

“You guys need to stop bringing that up,” Zip complained from the spot beside Holly. “I’m like, nineteen now.”

“And still a butthead,” said Rhea.

“Shut upp,” moaned Zip.

“Butthead el grande,” added Rhea.

Zip gently punched her sister’s back. It was a gesture without malice; they were both too comfortable to sit together and entertain Holly.

“Want to watch one of my soaps?” Zip asked.

They did. Somehow the acting had gotten worse since Holly was a teenager but she loved every minute of it.

 

***

 

Dan made her a stir fry and somehow managed not to burn the house down. The tofu chunks were a little rubbery, but she wasn’t about to complain.

“To your totally rocking blood pressure and getting out of the house at last!” Dan said, offering up a glass. She toasted him and sipped down her tea. There was a thoughtful look in his eye as she put the cup down.

“What’s wrong?”

He smiled. “I just wanted to say thank you for putting up with this.” He gestured toward her belly.

She shrugged. What should she say? She loved him, and so she said, “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Thank you,” he said lightly. “But I know how important it is, that you didn’t uh…Because I know you didn’t have to stay pregnant,” he admitted. “And I would’ve supported you, either way.”

“You’ve told me that a million times,” Holly said. Dan tended to eat a lot when he got nervous, but he also tended to get ineffectually flaily.

Holly still didn’t know why she’d said yes to keeping the baby. In the end, she supposed, it was a gesture of love.

Dan curled himself around her and sniffed her hair. There was no pressure on her to perform even now. “God, I adore you. What would I do without you?”

“I don’t know,” Holly admitted. “And I don’t know what I’d do without any of you.”

 

***

 

She and Ross took the long way home, sauntering through the sunshine-coated park.

“I missed this stuff,” he admitted, as they rounded a corner toward the bird sanctuary. “I missed you,” he added, just to make sure he hadn’t made their love seem like an afterthought.

She squeezed his hand. What would she do without Ross? Without any of them?

She hoped never to find out.


End file.
